Title The Advanced Reader(middle school and up)Nelson's School SeriesPublisher T. Nelson and Sons, 1866Length 400 pagesClick here.

Page 9:

PLEASURES OF KNOWLEDGE.

It is Noble to seek Truth, and it is Beautiful to find it. It is the ancient feeling of the human heart, that knowledge is better than riches; and it is deeply and sacredly true. To mark the course of human passions as they have flowed on in the ages that are past; to see why nations have risen, and why they have fallen; to speak of heat, and light, and the winds; to know what man has discovered in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; to hear the chemist unfold the marvellous properties that the Creator has locked up in a speck of earth; to be told that there are worlds so distant from our own, that the quickness of light, travelling from the world's creation, has never yet reached us; to wander in the creations of poetry, and grow warm again with that eloquence which swayed the democracies of the Old World; to go up with great reasoners to the First Cause of all, and to perceive, in the midst of all this dissolution and decay and cruel separation, that there is one thing unchangeable, indestructible, and everlasting;—it is worth while in the days of our youth to strive hard for this great discipline; to pass sleepless nights for it; to give up for it laborious days; to spurn for it present pleasures; to endure for it afflicting poverty; to wade for it through darkness, and sorrow, and contempt, as the great spirits of the world have done in all ages and all times.

Sources Of Free Books

All books are in public domain, unless indicated.

Google Book Search books are printable if switched to plain text, or page by page by right clicking on image of page(HTML mode only). *Switch to HTML(bottom of main Google Books Menu page) . **Click on the download button at link(upper right on sidebar) to download entire text in PDF.

*(10/10)This has been disabled. Hopefully the HTML button will come back. Books listed here are still linked in HTML. I have been able to change the end of the web address by hand from Text to HTML.

**(12/10)Google Books removed the PDF download button on the overview "About" book pages! To access a download, click on any page of the book to find the PDF download button in the upper right corner.

Internet Archives indexes several free book resources, has an excellent search engine, fully printable books, and an online flip-book reader with an audio reader. Readable online as plain text or as HTML(like a regular web page).

Rosetta Project groups vintage illustrated children's books by reading level, easy to read format, and has an audio reader. Not in public domain per their format. Read only, books downloadable for small fee.